Mr Milk said..
Space agencies are for rockets. Rockets are for warfare. SA is the furthest part of Oz from any enemies, so it's the logical place to keep defensive assets safe.
It was decided back in the late 50s 60s that the Woomera range was not ideal for orbital space shots. Some fantastic infrastructure was built for the ELDO(European Launcher Development Organization) on the range but was abandoned, some without ever being used.
ASRI (Australian space research institute) a civilian organization,use to launch sounding rockets etc out at Woomera ,but It had become too hard to use the test facility in recent times. ASRI mostly used the 5" Zuni rocket motors that where gifted from the government and already certified for use on the Woomera test facility (WTF). Civilians trying to get certification for rockets and motors for use on the range is near impossible,,, The more recent HYshot SCRAM-jet program was an example of a project that left town because of range fees and hoops. Woomera is a place where they just don't want civilians other than those who are contracted by the ADF eg; BAE systems.
Lately the hobby rocket scene has become very active. Through the hard work of a few guys around Australia, large rocket motors have been able to be imported and flown in Australia. Good relations with Air-services Australia has provided them some pretty impressive ceiling heights and this is sparking interest in the space interested groups that are looking for recoverable sounding rockets or launch vehicles. Private property for launching is the key, you basically only have the hoops of the land owner to jump through and not those of the government bureaucrats to set up a range. I have heard talk of a new sounding rocket range on the cards in the NT that will basically replace Woomera for the civilians and offer more to University and ASRI types groups.
Oh yeah, If you want to launch a rocket into space (100kms alt) from Australia or if you are an Australian citizen and you take your project else where,,, you need to pay close to a cool $100,000 fee to the Government before you light it up.
